It will need to have been Christmas of 1991 that I discovered Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers below the tree, and bought the reward of seeing thrilling new potentialities in video games.
I used to be a fan of journey video games, certain, having performed a number of video games in Sierra’s King’s Quest collection, to not point out Lucasfilm’s good and weird early titles like Maniac Mansion and The Secret of Monkey Island. But this was my first expertise with Space Quest, Sierra’s comedic sci-fi collection starring Roger Wilco, the hapless space-janitor who finds himself thrust into one cosmic misadventure after one other.
To be sincere, I don’t keep in mind a lot concerning the high quality of Space Quest IV’s puzzles. What I do keep in mind is how diversified and vibrant its universe appeared, with harsh alien worlds, moody cantinas, and glitzy space-malls. But what actually knocked my socks off concerning the sport was how meta it was. After progressing a bit by means of Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers itself, poor Roger finds himself flung into (the non-existent) Space Quest XII: Vohaul’s Revenge II.
Today, it’s not so unusual for video games to interrupt the fourth wall and wink knowingly on the participant about being video video games, to play with conventions in methods each drained and impressed. But wow, was this thrilling for me in 1991! The sport additionally sees you venturing into Space Quest X: Latex Babes of Estros (an apparent riff on the 1986 Infocom journey Leather Goddesses of Phobos) and all the way in which again to the unique Space Quest, which already appeared humorously primitive and pixelated in comparison with 1991’s state-of-the-art graphics, making excessive(er)-definition Roger Wilco all of the extra conspicuous.
Space Quest IV might or will not be an important sport, I actually don’t keep in mind nicely sufficient to say. I simply keep in mind sitting there on my Christmas break, awestruck by the intelligent meta-ness of all of it, and having my thoughts expanded concerning the potentialities of what online game storytelling and construction may do.
Carolyn Petit, Managing Editor
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